Local News

IDOT suspends some road work over holiday weekend

The Illinois Department of Transportation is suspending non-emergency road work this weekend to improve traffic flow. The Easter holiday weekend will find many projects on-hold through midnight Sunday.

Included are road projects in Iroquois, Kankakee, Livingston and Vermilion counties.

One lane is closed in each direction on I-57 where there's a Bridge Deck Replacement at Chebanse..

There are two Bridge replacement projects in Kankakee along I-57.

I-55 has a Bridge repair effort in Livingston County. In Vermilion County, U-S 136/Main Street in Danville has eastbound traffic slowed by a road improvement project.

Rep. Harms, GOP lawmakers object to 9-0 vote for Obama library

Republican lawmakers, including State Representative Josh Harms (Watseka) are protesting after an Illinois House committee recorded a 9-0 vote to commit $100 million for President Barack Obama's library and museum. That vote was even though the committee's four GOP members weren't there.

Sullivan says "the legacy of the Obama presidential library shouldn't be kicked off in a cloud of controversy."

Rep Josh Harms said the state can't even pay its bills for schools and maintaining roads. Harms said "the state has no business spending money on a presidential library that should be funded with private funds."

Lawmakers approved the money to sweeten Chicago's bid for the library.

Democrats used the roll call from a Wednesday hearing on gambling as the vote for the library. No one objected.A spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan says if there's a problem the committee will reconvene and vote again.

Kankakee County finances short $700,000+

A special meeting is planned later this month for Kankakee County government leaders. Reports state the county will not have enough money to pay all of its bills this month.The county checkbook will fall $774,973 short after paying salaries of county employees and meeting mandated pension payments.

As of Thursday, the county had about $2.5 million on hand but about $3.3 million in expenses, according to county figures.

The county board is planning a special meeting April 29 to approve $3 million in borrowing against future property tax revenues. The money will be borrowed through tax anticipation warrants slated to be issued on May 9.

Litigation filed to stop Illiana Expressway

Chicago environmental groups filed a lawsuit Thursday to stop the proposed $1.3 billion Illiana Expressway. The suit claims the Illinois Department of Transportation doesn't have authority to develop it. The expressway would be operated as a toll road.

The Environmental Law & Policy Center filed the suit in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of the Sierra Club and Openlands. It contends that the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's policy committee erred when it voted in October to include the tollway in its long-term development plan for the region, even though its own board of directors had already derided it as an expensive boondoggle and voted against it.